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LXer Weekly Roundup for 19-Sept-2010

The big stories to hit our newswire this week raised some questions it seems. We have Joe Brockmeier asking why e-mail is still stuck in the 1990's, who is in the running to buy Novell, could it be VMWare or possibly even Red Hat? Steve Rosenberg is intrigued by the latest Linux Mint, a review of TinyCore 3.0, Linux applications with peculiar names, the bully in the Linux schoolyard and to wrap things up we have some Microsoft FUD on how Android is not really free. Enjoy!

TinyCore Linux 3.0: Graphical Linux distribution under 11 Megabyte: If you thought Damn Small Linux or Puppy Linux is small, hold your breath. Tiny Core Linux is a minimalistic GNU/Linux distribution based on Linux kernel 2.6, it comes with graphical environment and provides facility to download and install applications from the Internet and it fits into 10MB of ISO file.

Here is the New Open Source: A recent column in The H Open posed a question: 'The "best open source software for business" list contains almost exclusively well-known contributors. Is there no more new open source?' It's an important issue, because it picks up on a persistent line of criticism that goes all the way back to the famous 1998 Halloween Document, an internal Microsoft strategy report that offered perhaps the first deep glimpse into the company's thinking about open source..

Court Upholds End-User License Agreements: The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that End-User License Agreements (EULAs) are absolutely binding, thereby making resale, redistribution, modifications and any other terms forbidden within the agreement illegal.

Why is Linux Email Stuck in the 90s?: Email, love it or loathe it, there's no getting away from it. On an average day I process hundreds of emails, but haven't yet found an open source mail user agent (MUA) that I really like. Ten years ago this wasn't surprising, but today? Why aren't open source mailers keeping up with the rest of the Linux desktop, and being blown away by Gmail?

The Bully In The Linux Schoolyard: There are plenty of people who have offered explanations for why Linux thrives anonymously on servers and as Android on smartphones but lags behind on the desktop. Though reasons abound, at least one significant one is a self-inflicted wound: the Terminal Bully.

Novell Sale: VMware Among the Bidders?: It sounds like Novell is nearing a deal to sell itself. Newspaper and wire report rumors suggest VMware is bidding to buy Novell’s SUSE Linux business, with another buyer to potentially acquire Novell’s other businesses. Here’s the speculation plus insights from The VAR Guy.

Red Hat in the market for Novell?: Red Hat, Inc. was named by the Wall Street Journal yesterday to be one of the potential purchasers of Novell, which the New York Post announced would sell itself in two parts; Linux will go to a strategic buyer and the remainder will be sold to private equity, Jefferies reports. The other companies mentioned were VMware, Oracle, and EMC.

Linux Applications With Peculiar Names: I'm sure most of us were put before in the situation of discovering a new great application, but had to stop and try to figure out how to actually read and spell its name letter by letter.

Linux and Too Many Choices: A perennial whinge is "Linux and FOSS have too many choices! It's confusing and scary!" So what's the answer, a single global dictator?

It must be the season for recycled anti-Linux whinges, because in the past few weeks I have had the pleasure of wading through a flurry of stories about Linux has too many choices, Linux is not ready for prime time, Linux is too expensive just like proprietary software, and FOSS is amateur hour and all insecure. We've heard it all before.

Microsoft says patent-infringing Android isn't really free: Google's open source Android operating system is not as free as it seems, Microsoft argues, because it infringes a number of patents. When asked whether open source models created problems for vendors with licensed software, the software giant went on the offensive. "It does infringe on a bunch of patents, and there's a cost associated with that," Tivanka Ellawala, Microsoft financial officer told MarketWatch. "So there's a... cost associated with Android that doesn't make it free."